


Losers Club

by orphan_account



Series: It Drabbles [1]
Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Add More Tags as I write, Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Fear, Flashbacks, Illusions, M/M, Requited Love, so I wrote a new one, the ending made me sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-11-02 07:48:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20673500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The ending of It Chapter 2 except it's happier and softer and gayer.





	Losers Club

**Author's Note:**

> The ending of chapter two made me extremely sad and to be honest the minute it happened I was thinking of ways to rewrite it so it was happier and better in my dumb dumb brain soooo I decided on this,, I hope this is okay.

He had been so excited, and proud of himself for finally gaining the courage to stand up for himself and his friends. He had saved Richie, right? He had killed It, whatever it was. The adrenaline that was pumping through his body in that moment was overwhelming, overwhelming enough to cover up the fear and anxiety that had previously overtaken his body. He leaned over Richie, who was not yet snapped out of whatever trance the deadlights had put him under. 

"Rich, I did it." He shook his shoulders slightly, "I killed It, I did it, I-"

"Watch out, Eddie!!" Bev screamed from across the cave, prompting strong arms to wrap around Eddie's body and roll him to the side as a sharp, torpedo-like claw dug into the ground next to them. 

Richie looked down at him before scrambling up, grabbing his arm and moving him briskly out of the way before the sharp limb could come down once again and possibly hurt one of them. They all ran into one of the smaller caves where the large clown-spider thing couldn't reach them. Eddie was just about frozen in place next to Richie, who was staring at the large clown face as it tried to claw at the small entrance to reach them.

"Are you alright, Ed?" He looked at the frozen man, who just shook his head slightly. "Yeah this is pretty fucked.. but you're alive, you're good." 

Eddie nodded slightly, staring at the clown. Turns out the fear had the power to overtake the adrenaline, and it had. He was sure after all these years he wouldn't have ended up acting like such a pussy, but it turns out it's quite hard to shake off anxiety that has been drilled into you for years. 

"C'mon, C'mon Ed. We gotta move." Richie pulled him to the side.

"Down here, down the passage, it can't fit down here." Bill ushered everyone into a smaller tunnel that branched off the slightly bigger cave that they had been previously residing in, to a cry of annoyance from the clown. Richie pulled Eddie along as the latter slowly snapped out of his frozen state and began to gain back his ability to move. This happened, of course, just as the group stopped in the tunnel, Bill taking this opportunity to peak out. 

"What do we do?" Bev whispered from the middle of line, wiping the sweat from her dirty forehead. "How are we gonna beat it? Obviously injuring it won't work, Eddie tried.." 

"You did a great job, Ed." Richie patted his shoulder gently, careful not to pat too hard, "But this fuckin clown needs to die. Now. Before it can hurt you- any one of you." 

"Everything and everyone must abide by the rules of the species they inhabit." Bill glanced over.

"So, if we can get it down to size. It would be easy to take it out, no?" Richie glanced over, "but how the fuck does that even work? It won't go down to our size, not even to chase us down here. So then what?" 

"It gets its power from scaring us. it scares us with our worst fears, it digs deep into our souls to find out what it is that will break us so that it can take advantage. So, if we're not afraid of it, what power does it have? If we can stare at it without even flinching, it has nothing to control us." Mike glanced back, "Do you all think you can do that? Can you take away the power it has over you?" 

They all nodded, all except Eddie who was shaking his head slowly, the fear returning to his eyes and quick.

"Hey, what's wrong Ed? You just got him! You did it, you hurt him, you have nothing to be afraid of." Bev scooted closer to him in order to hug his arm, and his eyes blinked nervously.

"No no no, I think If I went out there with you all I would hold you back, I already have multiple times tonight.. I don't want to be the reason we can't beat him." Eddie averted his eyes, staring at the ground. Richie realized, not only had his mother made him believe he needed her, and he needed all of the medication, but she had also essentially stunted his mental state. He still very much acted like a scared child who needed his mommy. 

"Eddie, look at me." Bev tilted his head to make him look at her, "we couldn't have done any of this without you. You are so much more brave then you give yourself credit for. You can do this, and we won't leave you behind. Got it?"

He nodded shakily. He felt he didn't have much of a choice, Bev had a point. He did always find a way to convince himself he wasn't strong enough, even after he had just thrown a spear into the throat of a shapeshifting monster that was trying to.. hypnotize? his friend. He could handle this, he was convinced he was. Well, he was convinced he was until he actually ran out with the group. 

The supernatural, otherworldly being towered over the group, snarling with its large teeth as it screamed and yelled into their faces. Eddie was terrified, it was as if he was brought back to his childhood, back to when he was thirteen, fourteen years old and he had to fight this same creature. He had such hope he would never have to deal with it again, but he's here now and he can't escape it. He can't escape this fear he have been living with for twenty seven years.

"What're you gonna do?" Bev flinched only slightly as the towering being moved towards her, "You're nothing." 

Eddie's eyes widened as all of his friends followed suit, staring the clown in the eye and telling him how it is nothing, how it has no power over them. However, when the spotlight turned to him he froze again. His friends were all doing so well, the beast was shrinking, almost shriveling up at the harsh words they screamed at him. When it came to him, he hardly knew what to do. He felt like he was stuck again, shackled just as he was shackled under his mother's control.

"What's wrong, Eddie?" The clown gave a smirk, "You're still scared of me?" 

The whole group looked at him, and he felt shame fill his chest. He knew he would be the one to fuck it all up. He almost let his friend die, he would've if someone hadn't barged in. Why would the group trust him again after that, why would they let him continue to fuck everything up? His brain was a mess, but he couldn't ignore the clown's smirking face coming closer and closer to him.

"No." Eddie stood up straight, I'-I'm not scared of you. You're nothing but a fake. You have no power so you have to dig into the deepest fears of people and exploit it. Do you know who do that, who picks on people's weaknesses because they're not strong enough to choose a stronger process? Fucking Pussies. Y-you're a pussy!" He hadn't realized he was walking into the center of the cave until the clown hit the wall, deflating like a balloon against the wall like thing. 

"Yeah. You're a fucking pussy. Pussy ass bitch-" Richie grabbed Eddie's hand as Bill pushed past them to kneel down and rip the heart right out of the clown's chest, and together with the rest of the group, crush it until the clown was no more. Once that was over and done with, the cave began to shake as if it was to collapse. That was the moment that Eddie realized his hand was warm, meaning Richie hadn't let go. And he didn't, he didn't let go until they got out of the cave and stood outside, all panting and tired from the battle they had finally beat. 

"W-We're filthy.." Eddie glanced over at the group and they were indeed, all covered in blood and dirt and mucus or whatever else was dripping down in that cavern. "We should really go shower.. or something."

"Come, I know just the place.." Bev smiled softly and began to walk in a direction that was familiar to all involved. Familiar from when they were children, from years and years ago. Now, of course, they had added a bar and a sign. He supposed it was their fault, they did have quite the habit of jumping down in there as young teenagers. Judging by Bev's eagerness to jump into the lake below, no hesitation, he supposed that habit had come back. 

"W-we're gonna bathe in the lake? That's pretty unsanitary, who knows what sort of diseases we could get from-" Richie's chuckle cut him off, and he turned to meet his eyes.

"Chill out. We used to do this all the time." He squeezed his hand before smirking and walking up to the edge, "don't be a pussy." He jumped down.

"I'm not a pussy!" He jumped right after him, laughing as he was almost transported back in time to when life was somewhat easier.. somewhat, and he still had that childish gleam inside of him. As he hit the water, he found himself ignoring the fact that he could get e coli from this water and focused more on his friends in front of him. One of them looked back at him with a bit more meaning then the others, and in that moment he couldn't quite place why. Why was Richie smiling so fondly at him, and not calling him a pussy or saying he fucked his mom. What was different in this moment? 

He found himself treading over to his old friend, giving his own lopsided smile, "What's up?"

"What do you mean?" Richie tilted his head slightly, "Your brain too fried from worrying about all the diseases that could be crawling up your asshole right now?"

"Just wondering why you're looking at me so fondly." He hummed, glancing him up and down. It sure wasn't an ideal situation to be having this conversation while covered in dirt and blood. However, it was now or never. Now, or he went home, back to his wife, back to the life of being controlled that it seemed he could never escape from. 

"Oh.." Richie glanced down. Whatever suspicions that Eddie had before were confirmed. Richie was never a shy person, he never averted his eyes. He was open, and brass and he said what was on his mind always. So what, or why would he now decide to act like a shy teenager with a crush.

A shy teenger with a crush?

"Richie?"

"I'd like to speak in private. If that's alright?" Richie glanced back, "Can you follow me?" 

Eddie nodded, wading with Richie until they made it to shore. They walked quietly, and it was claustrophobic. It just felt like tension was in the air.

"I used to have a crush on you..." Richie glanced back at Eddie then looked away, "when we were kids or some shit. I figured I could ignore it. It would go away. It didn't." 

"Rich.." 

"So, when we all lost contact I was relieved. Maybe I could, I dunno, move on. Find a girl, maybe? Obviously that didn't work out." They walked until they stopped on a familiar bridge, a bridge covered in carvings, decades old carvings. "Anyway, we met up again and everything was normal. Until it wasn't, until you were on top of me and you saved me, and you almost died and I felt everything rushing back into me full force." 

"Richie, why didn't you-"

"You're married, and i'm a fuckin deadbeat loser. I didn't even think you wanted to be friendly with me, let alone anything more. Plus, I never told anyone. That I even liked guys. I just kept it to myself, it prevented people from fucking with me, so it was beneficial in the end.." 

"Richie, listen to me." Eddie turned to him, "I'm married to a woman who controls me just like my mother did. I'm stuck in a constant prison of being controlled by people I think love me, but really just want to hurt me. You have always treated me equal to all of your other friends. You didn't go easy on me, you didn't make me feel like I was some sick weirdo.. and I love you for it."

"Don't say it.. don't get my hopes up Eddie. We both know what's going to happen."

Eddie grabbed his hand, "Do we?" He pulled him closer, wrapping him in an embrace. "You can't possibly know what I'm going to do, you're not in my brain.. unless you are.." 

Richie leaned into him, hugging him back. "When I was fourteen I came here, and I carved it. I carved the childish letters R + E into this bridge." He laughed and shook his head, "I'm such an idiot.." 

"Who knew the great Richie Tozier is a sap?" Eddie smirked softly.

"Shut up.." He looked up to meet Eddie's eyes. That's when the usually scared man leaned in to place a kiss on his best friend's lips, much to both of their surprise. Neither, of course, were protesting the current situation that they found themselves in. No, they leaned into each other's embrace, feeling the warmth of each other's lips as they shared their embrace. It was beautiful, for both of them.

When they pulled away, Richie seemed confused, almost out of it. This day was, of course, a lot for him to handle all at once. Defeating his greatest fear with his friend, and being kissed by someone he had been secretly in love with for the longest time, his brain was dangerously close to short circuiting. 

"Did you expect that?" Eddie smiled, holding his waist gently. 

"No.. no I didn't.. but I'm not complaining.." Richie smiled back.

They fell into each other's embrace, feeling warm and most importantly, safe with each other. It would take a bit of work for either of them to be able to be with the other, but they were both willing to make the sacrifice to do so. Eddie smiled, finally feeling as if he had found someone who would treat him with respect, who wouldn't subject him to munchausen's by proxy in order to keep him under control. Someone that could help Eddie find himself back to a good, healthy mental place that didn't require being hopped up on prescription medication that he actually didn't need. Though jumping into a relationship wasn't a good idea, he was excited to see where this could lead, and what future the two men had together, if any.

They let their minds get lost in the embrace, in the sounds of the bugs chirping in the woods, or the trees rustling in the wind. It brought them a sense of peace and safety that they had been missing for far too long. 


End file.
